Scorecard

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 3rd XI v Pirton on Sat 01 Aug 2009 at 1:30
Match was Abandoned

Match report A match that was promising to boil down to a close finish was cruelly ended by the weather at a sunny, overcast, windy, dry and raining Kitchener Field. Two seemingly evenly matched sides had come to the ground in anticipation of a top-of-the-table clash that would decide the league leaders going into the final furlong of the season. Berkhamsted were reeling at the prospect of playing without seasoned spin king Martin Gough and Bart Digger Smith. By the end of the games however, that feeling had diminished somewhat.



After winning the toss Charlie did not hesitate to insert Pirton onto a damp, lively looking wicket. With groundsman Puddles’ frown deepening further by the minute as the grey clouds rolled in we took the field without a hint of water in the air. A last minute technical pep talk by Todd was the entire reason that Ian Merrett found some rythmn and exploited the conditions beautifully, beating the bat but disappointing Buckley and Todd in the slips repeatedly. Merrett was heard afterwards saying “I owe my form entirely, 100% to Aaron.”



We were not expecting our makeshift opening bowler, Tom Baker, to turn the ball as our spin guru Martin Gough has repeatedly assured us “there’s not a lot of turn up on that square”….imagine the surprise as the Doctor began ripping the ball down the hill over after over. The stand in bowler performed excellently without much luck. Pirton grafted their way through the opening spell and despite the best efforts of Simon Brennan, Michael Antonelli, Alex Hardwicke and Ned Kilgannon we were unable to restrict them to the sort of total we have been knocking off in our sleep this season. As we went off we were contemplating chasing a daunting 229 to win off 43 overs.



As the rain clouds began to circle and a few drops floated down Puddles brow furrowed so deep you could have parked a bike up there. Despite the moisture our openers Alex Hardwicke and Mark Burgess began to tuck into one of the meanest bowling attacks in our division. Both players were merciless on anything short. After one rain delay another attempt was made to play but with the score on 55 for no wicket after 12 overs, heavy rain forced the abandonment of the match with the home team feeling cheated by the weather. Despite being one or two players short we performed really well as a team with the commitment in the field, particularly by Hardwicke and Brennan on the boundary, outstanding. Comfortably second in the league with a handful of games left gives confidence for the remainder of the season.


Pirton Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
228 (0.0 overs)		     
P Beard b  Merrett 6
D Price ct  Brennan b Antonelli 51
T Laskonski ct  Hussey b Baker 12
J Howard lbw  Merrett 62
M Dunn ct  & b Antonelli 15
C Beard Not Out  37
S Davies ct  Putman b Antonelli 4
S Clarke ct  Hussey b Merrett 6
J Maple Not Out  15
   
   

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ian Merrett14.0154318.003.86
Tom Baker13.0238138.002.92
Alex Hardwicke4.001700.004.25
Simon Brennan5.003900.007.80
Michael Antonelli10.0048316.004.80
Ned Kilgannon1.002100.0021.00

Berkhamsted Cricket Club 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 0 wickets
0
55		        
Alex Hardwicke Not Out  31
Tim Buckley Not Out  21
Mark Burgess  
Ned Kilgannon  
Aaron Todd  
Ian Putman   1
Simon Brennan   1
Ian Merrett  
Charlie Hussey   2
Michael Antonelli   1
Tom Baker  

Pirton Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.